The No.2-seeded Stanford Cardinal square off against the No.1-seeded Old Dominion Monarchs in the semifinals of the NIT tournament at Madison Square Garden. The game gets underway at 9:00 pm ET on Tuesday, Mar. 31 and will air on ESPN.
The Monarchs won a close one over Murray State 72-69 in the quarterfinals. Trey Freeman led all scorers with 27 points on 10-for-18 shooting. The Cardinal, meanwhile, are coming off a 78-75 win over Vanderbilt in the quarterfinals. Anthony Brown recorded 14 points, eight rebounds, and four assists.
Over the last five games, Freeman has been playing at a high level for the Monarchs. During that stretch, he has averaged 23.2 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 2.0 steals, and 1.4 three-pointers.
Old Dominion is a slight underdog, with Stanford favored by two. The Over/Under (O/U) is 139 points. The Monarchs enter the game with records of 27-7 Straight Up (SU) and 17-14 Against The Spread (ATS). Old Dominion has given up very few turnovers with only an average of 10.9 per game.
On the other side, Stanford has a SU record of 22-13 and an ATS record of 15-19-1. Stanford has been particularly bad ATS over its past 10 matchups, going 2-8. Stanford has not committed many turnovers, averaging only 10.8 per game.
This game marks the first time these teams will play this season. The last time Old Dominion and Stanford played, Stanford won, evening up the two teams’ head-to-head record (0-0).
Predictions: SU Winner – ODU, ATS Winner – ODU, O/U – Over
Notes
Old Dominion is 9-1 SU in its last 10 games.
Ranked 83rd, the Old Dominion Monarchs have an offensive rating of 106.8. The Stanford Cardinal rank 158th with a defensive rating of just 190.6.
With 61.6 possessions and 1.068 points per possession, the Old Dominion Monarchs perform worse on both metrics than the Stanford Cardinal. Stanford averages 66.9 possessions and 1.089 points per possession.
The Stanford Cardinal average an effective field goal percentage of 49.5% this season. The Old Dominion Monarchs have split their games this season (4-4) when opponents have an eFG% of 49.5% or greater.
On average, Old Dominion attempts 18.1 three pointers and Stanford attempts 17.8. In games where they have 20 or more three point attempts, the Old Dominion Monarchs have a fantastic 9-2 record while the Stanford Cardinal are even at 5-5.
Old Dominion ranks 89th in rebounds per game with 36.1 and Stanford ranks 51st with 37.1 rebounds per game.
The Stanford Cardinal rank 96th in offensive rebounds. The Old Dominion Monarchs rank 181st in the nation in defensive rebounds.
